


the world is brighter than the sun now that youre here

by brookethenerd



Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: Christmas, M/M, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 08:53:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9431549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brookethenerd/pseuds/brookethenerd
Summary: a philkas christmas





	

Growing up, Christmas was always small. His mother’s small amount of funds presented itself in a few bars of candy and a toy, or when he was older, a new shirt or pair of pants.

Still, she managed to make it special. She and Philip would drag out the tiny christmas tree and put it up in the living room, spending hours making ornaments out of things they had around the apartment, listening to old christmas songs.

When there wasn’t enough money for more than a bar of candy, Anne would buy a bar of Hershey’s chocolate and split it up into pieces, carefully wrapping each one.

Those, Philip decided, were his favorite. His mother hid the chocolate pieces around the apartment, and laughed delightedly when he emerged back into the living room having found one. Once it was done, they would move to the couch outside, and Philip would curl up against her. She would smoke a cigarette, and tell him made up stories about all the different lives he could live. One where he was a prince, another where he was a doctor, and another where he was a stay at home dad.

They didn’t have much in the way of money, but Anne was rich in imagination, and she raised Philip on it.

This is the first Christmas without her, and the first with Helen and Gabe. Philip isn’t expecting much, seeing as everyone is still coming down off the nightmare that was Ryan Kane.

So, when he comes down the stairs on Christmas morning, he’s a bit shocked to find a Christmas tree up in the living room, presents beneath it. Philip stops in the doorway, brows pulling together.

Helen and Gabe, both pushing presents under the tree, look up when he comes down. Gabe smiles warmly at him, and Helen makes her way into the kitchen, returning a moment later with two mugs of coffee. She hands one to Philip, and wraps an arm around his shoulder, squeezing.

“Merry Christmas, Philip.” She says.

Philip’s heart swells as she pulls away and sits down on the armchair, Gabe dropping down beside her.

“They’re for me?” Philip asks.

Gabe laughs.

“Most of them, yeah. Helen probably got me one or two.” Gabe says. Helen swats at him, shaking her head.

“Don’t make me accidentally spill my coffee on you.”

Gabe gives Philip a fearful look, to which he just laughs.

“So, you wanna pass out presents?” Helen asks. Philip nods, and sits down in front of the tree, setting his coffee beside him. He fishes for boxes until he finds one for Helen, Gabe, and himself.

Helen and Gabe don’t seem to be concerned with saving the paper, like Philip and his mother always were, so he tries not to worry about it either. He carefully unwraps the present, revealing a box beneath it. He looks up at Helen and Gabe, who smile encouragingly.

“Go on.” Gabe says.

Philip pries the box open, and when he sees what’s inside, his eyes go so wide they nearly pop out of his head; his expression makes Helen laugh.

Sitting inside the box is the camera he’s been eyeballing every time they go into town. He only allowed himself to look at the price tag once, and turned away immediately. Expensive. It was really expensive.

His brows furrow, mouth dropping open.

“I can’t-I can’t take this-“

“Yes, you can. And you will.” Helen says.

“But it’s so-“

“You’ve had a hell of a year, Philip. You deserve it.” Gabe says. Philip looks up at them, holding the camera gingerly, afraid it’s going to disappear.

He’s afraid it’s all going to disappear. This house, Helen, Gabe, Lukas, all of it. All the happy things that he’s just found.

“I-I-“ Philip stammers.

“Just say thank you, kiddo.” Gabe says. Philip presses his lips together for a moment, before thanking them multiple times.

They spend the rest of the morning opening presents; Philip gets a new pair of boots, some gear to go with the camera, and some clothes.

And once they’re done, Gabe goes into the kitchen to cook waffles, barring Helen from entering. She and Philip end up on the couch, playing with his new camera and watching cartoons on the TV.

It’s a good day. A really good day. He isnt expecting it to get any better; hell, he didn’t think it being this good was possible.

So, when the doorbell rings after dinner-which was takeout-he sets down his fork and looks around.

“Who’s that?” Philip asks. Helen and Gabe exchange a look, a secret smile on their faces.

Philip stands up, giving them an odd look, and goes to the door.

He opens it to find Lukas, wearing a horrid christmas sweater and a santa hat, with a squirming puppy in his arms. He grins when Philip sees him, and loosens his grip on the dog enough for it to jump out of his arms.

Philip kneels down, and lets the wiggly little pit bull jump up onto him, its tongue attacking his face. He picks it up, holding it in front of him, laughing as it squirms and lets out happy little yips.

“Merry Christmas.” Lukas says, coming inside, tugging his santa hat on and plopping it on Philip’s head.

“Where did you get a dog?” Philip asks, holding the little thing, grinning as it stretches up to kiss him.

“Doesn’t matter. She’s for you.”

“For me?” Philip asks, brows arching up to his hairline. Lukas smiles, and nods.

“Yep. For you. Helen and Gabe said it was cool. I figured you should have someone to sleep with at night. Since, you know, I can’t stay here anymore.”

Philip’s heart swells, and he presses his lips together, fighting back the tears that well in his eyes. Lukas wraps an arm around him, dropping a kiss to his temple.

“You gonna name her?” He asks. Philip sets the dog down, and sits on the ground in front of the door. Lukas pushes it shut, and sits down across from him, watching with a smile as the puppy chews on Philip’s fingers.

Helen and Gabe come into the front room, leaning against the doorway, Gabe standing behind Helen, arms wrapped around her.

“Can we take her outside?” Philip asks.

“She’s your dog.” Gabe says. Philip grins, and gets to his feet, snapping his fingers to get the puppy to follow him.

Then he and Lukas are running out the door and into the yard, the puppy yipping as she chases them. Lukas grabs Philip’s hand, pulling him against him, the two stumbling backwards, laughing.

Philip trips over a divot in the ground, and falls, bringing Lukas with him. Instead of getting up, though, Lukas props himself over Philip, elbows on the grass.

“We need some mistletoe.” Philip says. Lukas shakes his head, ducking his head, rubbing his nose against Philip’s.

“Don’t need a reason to kiss you.” Lukas says. Philip smiles, and reaches up, fingers tangling in Lukas’ hair, pulling him down to meet him. He kisses him softly, lips parting.  This is not a chaotic kiss, as many of their firsts were. It is searching and soft and careful, but not too much so. It’s enough to make Philip’s stomach twist; every place Lukas touches leaves fire in its wake.

Philip’s tongue has just dipped into Lukas’ mouth when something topples onto his face. The two break apart, and the moment they’ve moved, a wriggling gray puppy climbs onto Philip’s face. He laughs, and Lukas sits up, dropping onto the grass beside Philip.

“She isnt a better kisser than I am.” Lukas says pointedly as Philip ducks his head and kisses the top of the puppy’s head.

“She does kiss better than you.” He says.

“I can pick a name for her if you want. I like the sound of ‘Lukas.’”

Philip snorts.

“For a girl dog? Youre an idiot.”

Lukas leans over, peppering soft kisses up Philip’s neck. He scoots closer, and wraps an arm around him, tugging him into his side.

Lukas, no matter how hard he tries to hide it, obviously loves the little puppy. He rubs behind her ears, tilting his head as he inspects her.

“You could name her something really dorky. Like, after a star wars character.”

“Can you even name a star wars character?”

Lukas feigns offence.

“Leah.”

“Leia.”

“Close enough.”

“Leah is cute.” Philip says.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Leah it is.” Lukas says. He rubs Leah’s back, and reaches into his pocket, pulling out a pack of tiny tennis balls.

“You got her a Christmas present, huh?” Philip asks. Lukas rolls his eyes, and pulls one out, chucking it.

Leah chases after it, but quickly becomes uninterested, and saunters back to climb up in Philip’s lap, licking his neck.

“I guess me and the dog have something in common.”

“And what’s that?” Philip asks.

Lukas gives him a goofy smile.

“We both like you a whole lot.”

Philip can’t help but grin back. He doesn’t even spit out a snarky comment.

He just lays back on the grass, pulling Leah onto his chest. Lukas lays down beside him, shoving Philip’s arm away so he can scoot against his side and lay on it.

“Merry Christmas, Lukas.” Philip says, leaning his head against Lukas’.

“Merry Christmas, Philip.”


End file.
